I started playing again more recently, after a break in which I had basically deleted my characters ( this was before the whole heirloom thing ) so I have got one character already retired now and nearly at level 30 again and have a HA that needs just 1 more mil to retire, both recently played through first gen basically and I am happy with the time it took, it shouldn't be any quicker otherwise after a few retires it will be too quick and easy and we'll see the system slowed down again, in which people will complain that the higher gen players or people that play alot had an advantage.
Basically, leave it as it is for now until a different or better system is made, adjusting the exp it takes to retire just creates an endless circle of whine, unless you wipe everyone then the whine will be huge for a moment, people will GTX, then those left ( most players ) just get on with it.